Shut it Down D.C. Highlights: Videos & Photos

Unite the Right 2, lead by Jason Kessler, was scheduled to take over Lafayette Square in D.C. from 5:30-7:30pm. In the permit approved by the National Park Service, a total of around 400 protestors were expected to show up to rally, but reports on the streets say that number was significantly smaller.

Kessler and his followers are said to have been escorted out of D.C. by police way ahead of schedule. Multiple reports on Twitter said that only a dozen or two of Kessler’s protestors showed up to Lafayette Park. Police are now trying to break up the crowds.

Unite the Right 2 Rally: Photos of Kessler And His Followers

Kessler and his followers arrived at Vienna Station with police escorting them. Kessler soon found out he wouldn’t be able to carry the American flags he’d set aside for the event because they were upheld by wooden flag poles that could be used as weapons.

Jason Kessler and a few followers marched toward Lafayette Park, holding flags, saying they want to “honor those who have fought to protect our Constitution.”

Shortly after arriving in Lafayette, Kessler and his followers were escorted back to the D.C. metro area.

This is what the scene was like about an hour ago in DC when Secret Service police tried to clear thru protesters to open up the #UniteTheRight2 checkpoint, but were pushed back by 100s of antifascists. Crowd has now dispersed after Jason Kessler & a 20 or so neo-Nazis left early pic.twitter.com/7U9nTEh74D

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) August 12, 2018

Dozens of Organizations, Including Black Lives Matter And Antifa Groups, Came Together to Form #ShutItDownDC to Counter Protest Unite The Right

According to Makia Green, organizer for the D.C. chapter for Black Lives Matter, the group knows from experience that “ignoring white supremacy doesn’t work,” but their objective today wasn’t to confront the alt-right protestors, but to make their presence known.

Counter protestors remembered Heather Heyer, who was killed when a white supremacist drove his car into last year’s counter protest to Unite the Right in Charlottesville, Virginia.

#ShutItDownDC Instagram Highlights

Watch The Full Recording (3 hours) of Unite the Right Protest & Counter Protests

(This is live footage —provided by Ruptly— of Unite the Right 2 rally and counter protests. Two cameras were streaming; one focused on Unite the Right protestors and the other on counter-protestors.)

This story is being developed.

Dozens of organizations, including Black Lives Matter and Antifa groups, came together to form #ShutItDownDC to counter protest Unite The Right. (Photos)

Dozens of organizations, including Black Lives Matter and Antifa groups, came together to form #ShutItDownDC to counter protest Unite The Right. (Photos)